Sometime in the future all the forests on Earth have been destroyed. The last forests are transported in giant greenhouses aboard space ships near the planet Saturn. Freeman Lowell, crew member of the space vessel Valley Forge, is an outsider and the only one who cares about what is left of our planet's nature. When orders reach their vessel to destroy the forests, he goes mad. He kills off the other crew members and starts a lonely odyssey...
There's something to be learnt in this movie. More than 30 years old now, it stands the test of time with its message, as mankind is still working on what possibly could end in a scenario like this. Bruce Dern may be overacting in some scenes, but his character is still much more likeable than his crew comrades. Scenery and music are beautiful, fitting well to the dark, moving and unique story. And this is the movie that made "Star Wars" possible. Director Douglas Trumbull and other SFX masters like John Dykstra and Richard Yuricich were chosen to work on "Star Wars" because of the state-of-the-arts special effects they did for "Silent Running". In 1971, they were ahead of their time. In fact, they are easily as good as today's CGI effects, but much more memorable for their time. Even the droids that help Lowell are predecessors of the ones in "Star Wars"... A must-see movie for SF fans and everybody interested in Hollywood classics.
Plot summary
After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 16, 2019 at 01:51 AM
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Unique and memorable science-fiction classic
Moving Ecological Sci-Fi.
Bruce Dern plays Freeman Lowell, a botanist and astronaut assigned to a spaceship that has the last of Earth's forests in enclosed domes attached to its exteriors. When the order comes from Earth to destroy the domes, and return to Earth, Freeman's fellow crewmen are ecstatic, but he is enraged at the order, thinking it wrongheaded and stupid, so he sets out to ignore the order, and save the domes, even if that means he has to take extreme measures with his crew mates...
Sobering, thoughtful, well acted and directed(by Douglas Trumbull) ecological science fiction tale is really an allegory about humanity's treatment of nature, and what would happen if it was taken to its logical outcome. Though the extreme situation presented here is unlikely(I sincerely hope!) this film works because of its absolute sincerity, with three robots named Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who will play a key role by the film's deeply moving ending, which may bring a tear(s) to the eye.
It's not too late (or is it?)
Douglas Trumbull's "Silent Running" offers an unpleasant look at where our planet might be heading. It depicts that nature is wiped out on earth and all wildlife is kept in geodesic domes on a spaceship. When orders come in to blow up the remaining pieces of nature, the idealistic botanist (Bruce Dern) taking care of the forests and animals rebels.
The movie makes an important point about how we define progress. One of the crew members notes that earth no longer has poverty, unemployment or disease, but the botanist notes that the price of that is that there's no more natural world, while the entire planet has the same climate. Children will grow up never knowing what a tree is, while everyone eats - and is practically addicted to - synthetic food.
So many of these things seem to have come true, but as the theme song notes, it's not too late (I hope not). That forces us to ask: do we care enough to preserve the natural world? Do you?